Now is Dice K worth it?

Question

now that after the red sox's won the world series, do you think what they payed for dice k worth it?

Answer 1

Absolutely not. He was 15 -12 with a era of 4.40 and could have easily been 9 -18 if it were not for the Boston bats bailing him out on numerous occasions.

He was nothing close to the 18-5, 19-7, record with a era of 2.89 that Red Sox fans thought he would post at the beginning of the season.

He pitched a few gems against weak opponents and had 201 k's for the season and that's it.

Answer 2

Well the Red Sox won the World Series...he was one of the pieces that helped them get to and win the World Series...I would say he was worth it...I think he will pitch a lot better next year...Beckett and Dice-K are going to be an awesome 1-2 punch in 2008!

Answer 3

I think it is too early to answer this question. No player is worth $100 mil for one year which is what it will be if he turns out to be a bust. I had the guy on my fantasy team and regretted that I drafted him. The media and the PR machine hyped the guy so much that I drafted him as my #1 overall pick and was very disappointed. Yes - he helped win the World Series but he was not fantabulous by any stretch of the imagination. He seemed to tire as the season wore on. Let's see how he does in the long run before pronouncing him worthy of $50 mil just for speaking rights which in and of itself is quite obscene to begin with. The guy knew he was not all that this year after sitting in front of his locker for an hour after getting shellacked by the Indians. Point being, he was hittable and in no way resembled the talent of Josh Beckett.

Answer 4

I believe you have to look at what his value will be over a longer period of time and not just his first year. Let me ask you this, If the Red Sox go on to win several more championships over the next ten years and Dice-K is somewhere between 15 and 20 wins each year, which he is capable of doing, do you think he would be worth the investment?

Answer 5

While this is a good question , I think it will be better answered next year.

As for now, the guy won 17 games (2 in the post season), pitched 200+ regular season innings and struck out 200. Only 10 pitchers in the AL won more than 15 in the regular season. Not bad, but maybe not a bargain. You could also argue that he's priceless, in that he helped his team to the ultimate prize with both his arm and his bat (remember his WS RBIs??).

The real answer comes next year, when he applies what he learned about the longer MLB season and more frequent starts (compared to Japan). it will also be a year when AL batters have experience against him. I think his experience and work ethic will serve him well, but time will tell.

And by the way, given that he has 5 years more on his contract, and given the increases we are likely to see when guys like Santana reach free agency, he could actually end up being a bargain!

Answer 6

Yeah, he was such a postseason bust...those pennant clinching game winners have no place on a team's pitching staff.

The ERA was a disappointment, and he will need to become more consistent and aggressive, but I also see that Dice-K went to a team that won the World Series, so it was an investment that, even though wasn't flawless, still paid it's share of dividends just the same.

Answer 7

At this point you have to say no, they did not get the FULL refund on their investment but this wa a long term move not a short term windfall. You can really only evaluate it near the end of the contract. If he gets more comfortable with the MLB schedule and training regimine and continues to improve then it will be a great move for Boston if he turns into Hideo Nomo then it was a huge bust. Wait a few years though before judging the move.

Answer 8

All pro ball players are obscenely over-paid, but getting that out of the way, by baseball standards, I definitely think he is worth it. As has been noted, the non-payroll bidding fee was more than off-set by the huge new marketing potential in Japan.

Anybody who predicts he won't get better is wearing anti-Red Sox glasses. He was clearly ahead of most rookies in experience level, but he was a rookie just the same. Japanese Major League baseball is much closer to AAA than it is to American Major League baseball. If you evaluate him as a regular rookie--a 15 game winner who looked great a times and responsed like a vet to adversity and failure, finishing strong, and you consider he's locked up for six years a nine per, and he is not a bad deal at all. Look at his deal next to Clemens' deal this year. The Red Sox obviously got more for their investment than the Yankees did for there's.

Answer 9

No no longer really i imagine the yanks highly a lot might want to of left Kei Igawa with decrease than 10mil. dice-ok has highly good picthes yet can not position them in the intervening time Kei Igawa went to the Minors!i imagine is wasnt well worth it because they pay more advantageous than 20mil for a eastern picther they dont even seam to observe scout him.It wasnt well worth it!

Answer 10

I am a Yankees fan, but this is my hnest opinion...he is a #5 starter...getting him wast a bad idea but they overpayed...could have gotten Gil Meche for 5 yrs. 11 million a year (55 million dollars) instead of Dice K 6 yr. 52 million in contract plus over 50 million just for speaking rights, so he cost like double Meche and Meche had a better ERA...cant go by W-L for KC cause he got like no run support there. so could have had a better player for half themoney in Meche, so no, not worth it. Sox didnt trust him for more than 5 innings in the playoffs and proved to be a bust in the playoffs, not only in innings but in ERA...he got whipped excet against the flat Rockies, so that means nothing to me.